De Jong for Anita (60)
Perez for Thauvin (60)
Aarons for Wijnaldum (79)

Subs not
used:

Collins
Jelavic
Antonio
Spiegel

Gouffran
Obertan
Lascelles
Darlow

Bookings:

None

Colback
Janmaat

Dismissals:

None

None

Referee:
Anthony Taylor - in charge of our last victory in
London, at Spurs in October 2014.
Less pleasingly, he presided
over home defeats by the mackems and
Manchester United last season.

Hammers fans have no love for the Mancunian
whistler either, and
were incensed by the red card
shown to goalkeeper Adrian here
against Leicester City last month.Other offences to be taken into consideration included two soft penalty
awards to Liverpool against West Ham in 2014 and the contentious dismissal
of Hammers forward Carlton Cole against Everton in 2012.

Tonight though there was no opportunity for Taylor to have any effect on the
game - the only way he'd have been of assistance to us was if he'd gone up
front to partner Cisse.....

Attendance:A below capacity 34,907 including around 2,200 away
fans whose most vocal chant was "attack, attack, attack" but
which obviously fell on deaf ears. A "refugees welcome"
banner was displayed in the away end.

Problems on the A13 saw the visiting team arrive late and many fans of
both sides miss the kickoff due to public transport disruption
Predictably the attempts to hold back kickoff fell on deaf ears - the
TV boys pay the piper and call the tune.

Contrast this to December 2005, when identical issues on the
A13 saw our non-televised game kick off 30 minutes after the scheduled
time.

Half time guests tonight were most of the Hammers side who beat
Newcastle 8-1 here in 1986, including former Magpie Paul Goddard.

View from the away end - not just the
visiting team who surrendered.....

Upton Park recollections*:

Given as this was our final scheduled visit here, it's high time that we
inflicted our memories of previous visits to E13 on you as follows, in no
particular order.1. April 1991. "Ossies Babes" secure a 1-1 draw with
a sparkling brand of football to make it five games unbeaten: the
Geordie trio of Robbie Elliott, Steve Watson and Lee Clark to the
fore. This came at the time when away clubs still got a standing
terrace and a separate seating section in the increasingly decrepit
main stand, where almost inevitably you'd end up behind a pillar.

2. January 2014. Our final victory here, with Yohan Cabaye's
95th minute free kick rounding off a 3-1 success and fans of both
sides joining to abuse former NUFC and then-current WHU manager Sam
Allardyce.

3. February 1997. That caught you out, given as we drew 0-0
here in April 1997. That though was a rearranged game after the
abortive effort two months earlier - a midweek night match that was
called off shortly before kickoff with most fans in the ground due to
a storm of biblical proportions that left pools of water all over the
pitch.

(We weren't involved, but mention has to be made of the Toon Travel
trip for this match, with the postponement seeing fans return to their
drinking haunt of the local CIU club for more ale. The cops had
different ideas though and insisted that the bus leave the area
forthwith - despite the fact most of the passengers weren't on board.
Fast forward to chucking out time, when it became clear what had
happened. Fortunately, the CIU club allowed the fans to kip there
before completing their return journey by train the following morning
(the train ticketing is another story...)

4. March 1994. Newcastle fans cavorting in the half-built Bobby
Moore Stand as the goals rained in, Andy Cole, Alex Mathie and two
from Rob Lee in a 4-2 away success.

5. November 1992. Beating Charlton Athletic 3-1 here in the
promotion season with a sizeable away following who unlike the
previous season managed to find some turnstiles open to gain
access (the Addicks ground shared after ending a similar
arrangement at Selhurst Park before returning to their Valley home).

6. Most of the 1980s: National Front newspapers abound, metal
detectors erected outside the away end and ammonia squirted from Jif
lemons by the friends of future best-selling authors. Inside, the
South Bank terrace was shared by home and away fans, with gaps in the
dividing fences seemingly only there for added sport and to give
portly coppers some exercise.

7.May 1987. a 1-1 draw as we virtually secured
top-flight football for another season despite the dismissal of John
Anderson. I can still see the menacing look in his eyes as he left the
field. Make that murderous.

8.September 2006. Marlon Harewood attempting to
disembowel Shay Given as home fans taunted Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder
about his brain injury. Obafemi Martins and Damien Duff goals secure a
2-0 win over a home side managed by Pardew and featuring Bowyer, Tevez
and Mascherano. This may have also been the last time that the
extraordinarily fat press photographer was sighted here.

9. December 2005. A 4-2 win with Michael Owen completing his
hat trick in the closing seconds of play. A TV film crew chronicling
the final day of football Pink production captured the old goat of a
reporter in the press box shouting "no, don't score" as it
would mean a hasty rewrite of his copy.

10. April 1986. That 8-1 game - absolutely crazy. The abiding
memory though isn't of the nine goals or three Newcastle goalkeepers,
but rather that those toon fans present kept singing and singing - and
many had to be herded out of the away end well after the final
whistle, to the applause of home fans.

(*The Boleyn Ground title
seemed to only gain favour in the Premier League era)

PS: special mention to Toronto Mag John Walter, whose
trip to the UK
saw him at SJP for the U21s on Friday night, here tonight, completing
the Great North Run in between for the Newcastle
United
Foundation.
He'll be attending Saturday's home game against Watford before
heading back home -for treatment on his feet and liver probably....

Goals

9 minsDaryl Janmaat's throw
in to Vurnon Anita just outside the Newcastle box was intercepted by Mark
Noble. After a neat exchange of passes with Diafra Sakho that drew the
entire visiting back line into their own box, Dimitri Payet had acres of space
in which to find the net from
the edge of the box with a clinical right-footed finish in front of the away
section.

(The above was compiled from TV footage as your correspondent had an
obstructed view - being on nearby Tudor Road when he heard the roar of the
crowd. Thank you, Transport for London). 0-1

Half time: Hammers 1 Magpies 0

48 minsAn awful attempt at free-kick into the
box from Florian Thauvin was easily cleared upfield, with Victor Moses
setting off in pursuit down the left flank. Reaching the ball on the halfway
line, his first touch was a forward header that took him away from Anita and
left Massadio Haidara to cover.

Debutant Moses left Haidara on his derriere as he reached the box, hitting a shot that bounced back off the bar.
With another home player lying in wait, Thauvin's former Marseille colleague Payet
arrived to knock
the ball home from eight yards, past Krul and Anita on the line 0-2

Full time: Hammers 2 Magpies 0

We
Said

Steve McClaren said:

"We can make excuses and say the preparation wasn't ideal, but it's no
excuse. We felt the preparation wasn't long enough and asked the referee to
put it back.

"I've been in football long enough, and it's usually permitted. It
wasn't. We had to deal with that. I think it was the Premier League that
made that call.

"We said before 'deal with it' but maybe we didn't deal with it. It is
a wake up call for everyone. In this Premier League you need to be 100% and
if you aren't you get beat.

"But we didn't do tonight what we have done for the previous four games in
terms of organisation, discipline and being hard to beat, we lacked that.

We shot ourselves in the foot, especially for
the second goal.

"It's a learning process and we've learned a lot tonight. You don't like
going through nights like tonight, it's painful, but sometimes you have to.

"Our platform has been hard to beat, disciplined, and
this was a wake up call. If we are not right we will get beat. I am not
blaming the coach journey, you have to deal with that and we didn't deal
with it very well.

"This is a journey and it is two steps
forward one step back, today was two or three steps back. Saturday is very
important for us. Our final ball was poor.

"We did not do what we have been doing
for the first four games when we looked organised, disciplined, won our duels,
competed. (He's obviously forgotten the Swansea game).

"Could we come away and create chances tonight? Our final ball wasn't of
the quality of West Ham which is why we lost. It is in the heart and the head
and we need a reaction.

"You need these games, they hurt like
mad, but you need them to get the message across.We've got talented
players.

"It's a process, this is normal. These type of nights and games, you don't
like going through them. It's painful, but sometimes you have to learn about
your individuals and your team. We have to learn and move on, and make sure we
give a reaction on Saturday.

"They were late, and we were expecting the game to be put back for
15 minutes. I think they had enough time. I don't know, to be fair, but...
we didn't say, 'Go at them from the start'.

"I mean, we said (that), but we would have even said that if
they had (stayed) a night at Upton Park last night. It would be the
same plan.

"It is very important for him (Andy Carroll). It is very
important for the club. We are all delighted - it's almost like signing a
new player. It was a really good night.

"We fully deserved the three points, we were better from the start and
we scored at the right time. Newcastle put us under a bit of pressure as we
were defending too deep. In the second half I was proud, because we were
solid, good at keeping the ball and great at counter attacks.

"It's small proof that we really did well in the transfer window. (Dimitri)
Payet is a
player I wanted from the start - I've known him for a long time, he is one of those players who is not only
a great player who scores goals and makes goals, but he also makes the
players around him play better.

"I didn't set targets in terms of finishing in the top ten; our target is that we want a good team that can defend with numbers and can
attack with numbers, a team who can keep the ball.

"If we succeed in that that should give us more points. But I don't know if
we will be fifth, or fifteenth."

Stats

Now just one point and one goal (Emmanuel Riviere v QPR) from our last
nine away trips.

In 2015 Newcastle have recorded just three wins in 24 Premier League
fixtures and it's 402 minutes since our last goal, when Georginio Wijnaldum
headed in against Southampton.

2015/16: no win in five games2014/15: won the eighth game2013/14: won the third game2012/13: won the first game2011/12: won the second game2010/11: won the second game2008/09: won the second game2007/08: won the first game2006/07: won the first game2005/06: won the sixth game2004/05: won the fifth game2003/04: won the seventh game2002/03: won the first game2001/02: won the third game2000/01: won the second game1999/00: won the eighth game1998/99: won the fifth game1997/98: won the first game1996/97: won the second game1995/96: won the first game1994/95: won the first game1993/94: won the fourth game

Five
games in then and evidence in abundance that the task in hand is more root and
branch than mere pruning and trimming, as the country's lowest scorers slipped
to the bottom of the top flight.

Seven of the starting lineup that secured Newcastle's last league win in May
started tonight, but they encountered a West Ham side with just three
survivors - and rather more commitment and spirit than was evident in the away
dressing room at Gallowgate four months ago.

In many ways - not just the scoreline - the boot was on the other foot for our final scheduled visit to the Boleyn Ground, as
our sloppy and unfocused performance was duly punished. The boots in question
may have seemed to be of the steel-toed variety given the apparent damage
caused to home players, but in terms of what we achieved as an attacking
force, it was a soft shoe shuffle.

A lack of care and a failure to take responsibility were the hallmarks of a
beaten West Ham team in the last meeting, but that coincided with the end of
the Allardyce era and nothing to play for.

What then are we to make of our much-vaunted new coaching collective, who have
so far failed to inspire their new charges to mastering the trick of scoring
goals or stopping them?

Without absolving McClaren, Simpson, Cathro et al, it's tempting to look at
the hollow displays of "big" players like Moussa Sissoko and
Fabricio Coloccini, and conclude that they are repeating the feat of
undermining Alan Pardew and John Carver in the latter part of the last two
seasons.

Certainly Sissoko has an arrogance totally out of keeping with his
contribution and value to the team; a notable absence of blocks, tackles,
passes, headers, crosses and shots giving a lie to grandiose claims of
Champions League suitability.

Something is seriously awry when your main goal threat is playing at right
back, but Janmaat has more of a claim to the right midfield spot - at least
making an attempt to get into the final third.

On easy street with his national team (hosting Euro 2016 meaning no qualifiers
and a strong bond with the coach), does a situation reminiscent of Michael
Owen see Sissoko less concerned with what happens next May in comparison to
what begins in June?

First from the field on Monday, he had to be ushered back out to rejoin his
colleagues, not even having the good grace to look gutted about losing as he
glad-handed members of the opposition.

And with Florian Thauvin still finding his feet in similar fashion to his
predecessor Yohan Cabaye (who took until late October in his first season to
silence doubters), the unproductive central midfield pairing of Jack Colback
and Vurnon Anita failed to shield the defence or prompt attacks.

All that adds up to a big fat zero in terms of goalscoring possibility -
Papiss Cisse again ineffective as a lone striker without support but hardly
aiding his cause in terms of movement and position. It's hard not to think
that a lack of concentration belies the fact he just doesn't want to be here.

Georginio Wijnaldum meanwhile played - and had the demeanour of - someone who
just starting to realise what he's let himself in for, having been persuaded
to swap the top of the Dutch League for the bottom of its English
equivalent.

"Het is niet zoals het was in de brochure" as Kevin Keegan
almost once said in 1992.

Before we go totally off the deep end though in comparing and contrasting
these two Uniteds, it's worth recalling that West Ham's Europa League
involvement meant they were playing competitive games of a sort before we
kicked a ball of pre-season.

Bilic's mob have also been inconsistent and remain a work in progress -
nonetheless, his arrival appears to have had a positive impact on his team.
Sadly for us, the lack of pace and invention allied to naivety in what has to
be called cheating have remained constant despite a managerial change, along
with a lack of basic passing ability and our old friend slapstick set
pieces.

It's easy to overlook how much of an easy ride we gave the Hammers here - as
unthreatening as were at Swansea, although we at least had the partial excuse
of being a man short at the Liberty.

Two goals from Dimitri Payet secured a comfortable victory against a side
whose first priority - and sole game plan - was avoiding defeat. As a result, indifferent performances
came from disinterested players and the game was effectively over in 10
minutes. If that's our approach at Upton Park, it doesn't bear thinking about
what delights are in store for us at the Etihad? two goalkeepers?

There were few visiting players that enhanced their reputations, including
substitutes Ayoze Perez, Siem de Jong and Rolando Aarons who all showed some
neat touches but rarely looked like giving their side any late hope. It
remains to be seen whether any or all of that trio can force their way into
the starting lineup for Saturday's must-win home encounter with Watford.

The visit of the Hornets becomes a massive test of McClaren's managerial
credentials, not only in organisational terms but also motivating his troops
against a side who come north having broken their own winless run.

Anything less than
three points will mean that subsequent games against Chelsea and
Manchester City could leave us firmly rooted in the relegation zone as
optimism caused by new arrivals rapidly dissipates. Defeat would also sadly
render the League Cup superfluous to our season if one looks in purely
pragmatic terms.

PS: Hammers fan Billy Bragg was doubtless in his Dorset dacha rather
than in E13, but to dip into his song book, it's fair to say that Newcastle
fans are still waiting for the great leap forward....

Here's the Bard of Barking showing his colours on Monday, but rather than
gloating over the win, he's actually promoting a plea for football fans to
donate unwanted team scarves, hats and gloves to migrants/refugees in mainland
Europe ahead of the winter. Find
more details online here